"Daphnis and Chloe" set design 

Editor: Here we have what seems to be a set design for "Daphnis and Chloe," by Léon Bakst, created with gouache on paper. It depicts a stylized landscape, but the prominent figures give it a narrative quality. It feels very theatrical and ornate to me. How do you interpret this work? Curator: This work interests me from the perspective of labor and material culture within the decorative arts. Consider how Bakst mobilizes painting as stagecraft. "Daphnis and Chloe" embodies a collaboration where visual art serves the spectacle of the ballet. How do the materials themselves – the gouache, the paper – contribute to this blurring of fine art and applied art? Editor: So you’re saying it's less about the symbolic landscape and more about how it functions as a fabricated, material thing? Curator: Exactly. Think about the materiality of the stage itself – the canvas backdrops, the constructed sets. Bakst isn't just creating an image; he's designing a product for consumption, a commodity manufactured through artistic labor. Editor: That’s fascinating. I hadn't considered the labor aspect, but now I see the painting as a blueprint for a much larger production process, a collaboration involving many skilled workers. Curator: And by embracing a "decorative" style, Bakst directly confronts hierarchies within art. He's elevating craft to the level of fine art by the virtue of how it's produced, circulated, and consumed. Do you think this piece challenges traditional distinctions between art and craft? Editor: Definitely. Focusing on production sheds a new light on what is commonly appreciated as mere "decoration" or ornamentation. I think I see the hand of the artist in this now, not just his vision. Curator: Indeed. It demonstrates how a focus on materials and making can offer new perspectives on artistic value and cultural significance. Editor: Thanks, this materialist approach gave me a whole new outlook. Curator: It helps to examine art as more than just images, but as objects embedded within systems of labor, material, and exchange.